Laboratory Measurements of Electrical Resistivity Heterogeneity and Anisotropy in Carbonate Reservoir Rocks

We describe a novel high pressure Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT) system capable of resolving 3D resistivity distributions within laboratory core samples at representative burial pressures. The system is also capable of measuring the full 3D resistivity tensor from a single sample using a newly developed and efficient diffemorphic finite element technique. We present results on a microbially laminated dolo-mudstone reservoir analogue from the Middle Triassic Rottweil-Formation of the South German Basin and show that what at first appears to be electrical heterogeneity is in fact the result of anisotropy caused by a parallel tubular microstructure.